


The Simple Bare Necessities

by tacomuerte



Series: Femslash February 2017 - Chlonette Edition [5]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alcohol, Bonding, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, F/F, Femslash February 2017, Fluff, Humor, On the edge of total crack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-07
Updated: 2017-02-07
Packaged: 2018-09-22 18:26:48
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9619781
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tacomuerte/pseuds/tacomuerte
Summary: On a pre-graduation camping trip, Marinette and Chloé work out their issues… and then some.* * *Title from "The Bare Necessities" on theJungle Booksoundtrack.Femslash February 2017 Day 5: Stars





	

Marinette sighed as she stared at the tent ceiling… roof… whatever. The point was she was too wound up to sleep. With nothing better to do, she checked the time on her phone. Again. It was a couple minutes past midnight, which was unsurprising considering she had been checking the time roughly every two minutes. 

Still no sign of her roommate… or was it tent-mate?

“This is stupid,” she said aloud. “It’s stupid and now I’m talking to myself. Great.”

She reflexively checked her phone. It hadn’t even been a minute.

Wrestling her way out of her sleeping bag, she decided a new plan of action was called for, because patiently waiting on Chloé Bourgeois to come to her senses when she was having one of her patented tantrums was a plan destined to fail.

This was all Alya’s fault. How could she have stuck her in a tent with Chloé of all people?

Pushing that thought away since there wasn’t anything she could do about it and flipping open the entrance to the tent, she stalked over to the firepit.

Chloé was sitting on one of the logs spread around the fire with her back to Marinette, but she must have heard her approach as she said, “Well, if it isn’t Marinette Dupain-Cheng. Why aren’t you asleep like a good girl? Can’t handle someone out past ‘curfew?’”

Marinette opened her mouth to object, but Chloé cut her off.

“Whatever. Just go back to bed, Marinette, and leave me alone. I am so not in the mood to deal with you.”

The brunette was just about to do that when she caught the very distinct odor of alcohol.

“A-are you drinking, Chloé?” Marinette asked feeling somewhat scandalized. This was technically a school trip.

Chloé, who still wasn’t bothered enough to turn and face Marinette, held up a bottle of amber liquid—or at least it appeared amber in the firelight—and shook it.

“Oh, I am most definitely drinking,” Chloé said, then lowered the bottle back to the ground. “I would offer you some, but well… I hate you.”

Marinette wasn’t sure why she was so offended. The hatred was mutual. Plus Marinette didn’t really drink hard liquor because her tolerance wasn’t the greatest. Alya liked to joke that she was such a lightweight that a strong breeze could carry her out of Paris after two glasses of wine.

Her feeling insulted was probably more due to how she loathed her blonde nemesis upstaging her in any way. She had never really said this out loud, but over the years what had begun as rivalry over winning the potential affections of Adrien had morphed into rivalry over Marinette championing all the people Chloé mistreated and abused and that in turn had morphed into fierce, never-ending rivalry over any and every possible thing as Chloé’s behavior towards everyone not named Marinette Dupain-Cheng had turned from hateful antagonism to a more live and let live pleasantness.

Treating Marinette decently seemed a bridge too far for Chloé… and maybe Marinette had a problem letting go of the past, too, which made things worse sometimes. 

Just last week for instance, the two had gotten into a race to see who could tie their running shoes faster, which then turned into a race to the starting line for the 5K charity run, which then turned into the two nearly killing themselves trying to beat each other to the finish line.

The fact that they had tied was galling. 

The fact that there wasn’t a photo finish set up so Marinette could have the satisfaction of proving to Chloé that she had indeed edged the blonde out at the finish line was even more galling. 

The fact that Alya had told them both they were being petty and troublesome and she and Sabrina were over “whatever weird issues” the two of them had with each other, as she phrased it, was the most galling thing of all.

The “weird issue” was simple. Marinette just really hated losing to the blonde, so Chloé acting like she wasn’t worthy of being a drinking partner was the single thing in the universe that would inspire a burning desire in Marinette to be Chloé Bourgeois’ drinking partner, and if the spoiled tyrant didn’t like it, that would just make it all the sweeter when she drank her under the table… or log seeing as there wasn’t an actual table. 

Regardless, the point stood. Chloé needed to be taught a lesson, and Marinette was calling school into session.

She sat beside Chloé and glared at her. “Too good to drink with me?”

Chloé nodded, her smile beatific. “Yes, actually.”

Marinette counted to twenty inside her head as she tried to let the rage flow out of her. She had long since given up on counting to ten. She idly wondered if she needed to start counting to thirty.

“Why are you drinking anyway?”

Chloé looked around at the dark woods incredulously. “Have you seen this place? It’s wretched.”

Marinette smirked. She had Chloé now. “Then why did you come?” she asked full of false sweetness.

Chloé arched an eyebrow. “For the same reason you’re here, Dupain-Cheng.” She motioned to the tent across the way where Adrien was sleeping.

Marinette grunted out assent. Denying that she was here because of the blond model was pointless. For just a moment, all her annoyance and loathing for Chloé dissipated. 

“Camping,” she said, gloomily. “Why did it have to be camping?”

“Because Adrikins,” Chloé said, adding a hint of sarcastic annoyance to her pet name for Adrien. “Has never been camping and thought this would be a **super-fun activity** for our last big outing as a class before we all scatter to the winds of full-time adulthood.”

Marinette sighed. It was true. Adrien was so excited by the thought of camping that most of the class had been pulled along by his enthusiasm, Marinette included. Truthfully she would have been fine hiking through the Sahara during midday if he said it looked fun.

Only Chloé had voiced any major objection to Adrien’s idea. The blonde hated the notion of sleeping outdoors away from wi-fi and bubble baths and shopping.

Marinette now regretted her delight in Chloé’s grousing during the class discussion because as they said, hindsight was 20/20. The grim notion that Chloé had a point when it came to this weekend crossed Marinette’s mind, but she wasn’t about to let on that she wasn’t exactly hyped to be here either.

“At least I was honest about hating the idea,” Chloé continued as if she could read Marinette’s mind. “Unlike some people who gushed at the idea of coming out here to the middle of nowhere because their crush is as pathetic as it is obvious.”

“Gee, Chloé, I don’t know who you’re talking about,” Marinette deadpanned. 

“Oh, so this is actually your idea of fun?” Chloé asked. Her question seemed genuine, and Marinette knew all she had to do was stay strong and she would have something to lord over Chloé for weeks, but at that particular moment sitting in the dark listening to weird creatures make weird sounds out somewhere among the trees, she found herself speaking the truth before she even realized it.

“No, I hate this damn place,” she said. “There are bugs, Chloé. I do not like bugs at all, and there are So. Many. Bugs.” She shivered, emphasizing her point.

“I know,” Chloé complained. “It’s horrible, and it’s so dark and peaceful and quiet.”

“You hate peace and quiet?”

“When all I’ve got is a bottle of whiskey and my most hated enemy for company?” Chloé asked, looking at Marinette like she had lost her damned mind. “Yeah, I hate peace and quiet. At least if we had to endure something like this closer to civilization, I could go online and numb myself to the point where I wouldn’t even be aware that I have tree sap on my ass from sitting on this stupid log.”

“I know, right?” Marinette agreed, finding she had to laugh to keep from crying. “I mean… we struggled for thousands and thousands of years to get **out** of the wilderness and suddenly everyone wants to go sit in the woods and stare at trees… wondering when the bugs are coming for you.”

For several minutes, the two girls contemplated the dark fate awaiting them if and when the bugs did come.

“Yeah,” Chloé said, breaking the silence. “I figure if I’m going to be eaten by a bear or something equally stupid, I might as well go down having fun.” She sloshed the bottle again for emphasis.

“Okay, are you going to share, or do I have to wrestle that bottle away from you?” Marinette demanded.

Chloé gave her a hard look for several seconds before responding. “Like you could take me in a wrestling match,” she said, sneering. “But if Alya caught us in a wrestling match, everyone would get the wrong idea, and I don’t want any more tree sap on me than necessary…”

Marinette scowled. Alya and Sabrina had taken to making snide comments about “unresolved sexual tension” whenever she and Chloé started sniping at each other. Frustrating her even more was how the entire class had picked up on it. Rose had even sent her a very sweet email expressing sympathy over how hard it was to come out to a crush along with a detailed list of romantic places she could take Chloé when Marinette decided to confess her “true feelings.”

Marinette felt the entire lot of them—Rose excepted—did it just to shut them up because there was no way that was an actual thing between her and the spoiled brat who was still hogging the bottle.

Sighing, Chloé handed the bottle over and Marinette took a swig.

The whiskey was bitter and burned her throat. She let out a small cough and handed the bottle back.

“I would have thought you would go for something a bit more… refined,” she said finally with tears in her eyes.

“And risk losing good liquor worth more than the bottle itself? I may have money to burn, but I’m not stupid.”

That made more sense to Marinette than anything Chloé had said in years, so she nodded and took another sip when Chloé offered up the bottle again.

For the next hour or so, they drank in silence, the only sounds coming from the crackling, dying flames and the occasional scurrying of some forest creature, which Marinette dearly hoped wasn’t some giant bug. Chloé was right, though. The whiskey numbed everything and the heat from the fire helped make her feel toasty and floaty.

As she and Chloé sat there keeping each other company for what might be the last time, Marinette felt nostalgia wash over her and decided she had nothing really to lose by saying what was on her mind. The alcohol was probably helping that decision along, but it was also helping her not to care.

“You know,” she began. “I’m sort of going to miss this.”

“What?” Chloé asked. “Camping? Why the hell would you miss camping?”

“No, and can you let me finish a goddam thought for once?”

Both girls blinked at each other, unused to the brunette using that kind of language.

“Are you drunk, Marinette?” Chloé asked, surprised.

Marinette considered this possibility before saying, “Yes, I think I may be drunk. I have stupidly low alcohol tolerance.”

Chloé snorted and leaned back. “Take it easy then because I have no desire to clean you up if you get sick,” she said. 

The pair laughed at that and fell back into a quiet, strange camaraderie. It wasn’t long before Marinette noticed that Chloé seemed sad and pensive. 

“Do you ever just look at the stars?” Chloé asked as she looked at the sky.

Marinette joined her classmate and looked up, immediately regretting this as things started spinning. “Whoa,” she said, taking a moment to steady herself. “No, they’re not really visible with all the city lights, usually.”

The sky was filled with bright pinpricks of light, and it turned out to be an easy thing for Marinette to slip into a contemplative mood.

“They’re really beautiful. Do you like stargazing, Chloé?” she asked finally.

“No,” Chloé responded, glumly. “I hate them.” 

There was no venom in her answer, and Marinette found that odd. Usually, Chloé hated with passion that erupted from her entire being.

“Why?” she asked, unsure if she wanted the answer because this whole thing was getting a little too close to something resembling bonding.

“They remind me I’m small and temporary.”

Marinette grunted. She could see that. The universe was a big place.

“When Maman… left,” Chloé continued, and Marinette knew instinctively what the blonde meant by that particular word. “Papa and I spent a lot of time in the countryside. I would look at the night sky and I realized that I was alone, and I wouldn’t outlast a single one of these stars. I would fade away like Maman and no one would… well, nothing would stop. The world keeps spinning. People keep going. No one notices you unless you make them notice you, and even then it’s usually not worth it.”

Marinette turned to face Chloé. The girl looked strangely defeated, and that didn’t sit right with Marinette.

“What I was going to say a minute ago,” Marinette began quietly. “Is that I’m going to miss this whatever it is we do. This fighting and all. And don’t ask me why. I don’t get it either.”

She capped her sentence with another drink. The bottle was half-empty and Marinette liked how swirly the world was.

“I thought you hated me,” Chloé replied, eyes still fixed on the sky.

“I do,” Marinette answered back. “But it’s a comfortable kind of hate, if that makes sense.”

“Oddly, yes,” Chloé agreed. She took another drink as well before saying, “How did we even get here?”

“I recall a bus being involved, which you complained about the entire trip.”

Chloé snorted out a laugh and blinked in surprise. “Shit, I’m drunk too. I only snort-laugh when I’m drunk. But you know what I meant… although the bus line was funny. I’ll give you that.”

“Actually, no I don’t know what you mean. I don’t feel like fighting right now, so I’m trying to engage in good faith.”

“Oh. Okay, then,” Chloé replied. She was speaking with measured control, probably due to alcohol, not that Marinette blamed her. “What I meant was how did we end up like this, you and I?”

“Oh, that’s easy to answer. Adrien.”

Chloé hummed her agreement. “I feel sorta stupid letting a crush control so much of my life.”

What occurred then was one of those brief existential epiphanies that only seem to happen when a person hits a certain level of intoxication whether by alcohol, other substances, or exhaustion. This time, it was likely a combination of alcohol and exhaustion, but whatever the precise cause, the effect was like Marinette had been dropped off a mountain. She had this horrible sinking sensation and all she could do was wait to hit bottom.

“Fuck,” Marinette groaned. “When you put it like that… fuck.”

Chloé giggled. “What the hell is wrong with us?”

“Me? I’m in love,” Marinette said, playfully. “Well, maybe I am. Maybe I’m just in love with being in love. Oh god, I’m one of those drunks.” She sighed, took another drink and continued. “That’s me, though. I don’t think there are enough psychiatrists in the world to fully diagnose you, Chloé. You’re just that special.”

“I think I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“You do you, Chloé,” Marinette said, saluting the blonde with the bottle. Chloé was now staring intently at the fire, making Marinette nervous. “Still want to burn down our tent?”

That was the original reason Marinette hadn’t been able to sleep. Chloé had in a very convincing fashion threatened to burn down the tent she was being forced to share with Marinette before stomping out.

“No, I need somewhere away from these damn bugs to sleep.” She slid off the log and used it as a makeshift pillow. “Fuck. Now I have tree sap in my hair.”

Deciding that misery required company, Marinette slid down, too and leaned back. “At least you aren’t alone in your sap-induced pain.”

“Do you think Sabrina’s screwing Adrien right now?” Chloé asked out of the blue. 

Alya’s solution to Chloé and Marinette getting into a literal bout of hair-pulling over who got to share a tent with Adrien was to go all Solomon on them. Alya refused to give up her tent with Nino by putting the aspiring DJ in with his best friend, which would have solved the entire issue and saved Marinette from bunking with Chloé. Every other single student there had already partnered up and had no desire to get in between the two combatants, so Marinette’s supposed best friend settled the issue by putting them together. When the decision was made, everyone but the two girls in question acted very relieved, except Rose who gave Marinette a very enthusiastic and completely unnecessary thumbs up.

The side effect of all this was Sabrina ended up sharing a tent with Adrien.

It was generally frowned upon to have coed sleeping arrangements, but all the students allowed to go on this excursion were all adults and there weren’t enough tents for single sleeping. It wasn’t like Adrien would try anything, and Sabrina wouldn’t do that to Chloé. Probably. Marinette had to admit Adrien was smoking hot, so the temptation had to be there for the redhead.

“Did you just seriously ask that or am I drunk hallucinating?” Marinette asked, incredulous.

Chloé shrugged and threw the bottle back draining a good amount of the remaining whiskey. Marinette had to give her credit. She could hold her liquor.

“Yes, I asked it, and don’t tell me you weren’t wondering, too.”

Marinette grimaced. “I hadn’t been until now. Thanks for that.”

“We could burn down their tent,” Chloé offered, brightly.

“Jesus, you pyro!” Marinette said, glaring at the blonde. “What is it with you tonight and wanting to set fire to everything?”

“Some women just want to watch the world burn,” Chloé said solemnly.

Marinette laughed so hard she thought she might vomit. That might have been the alcohol, though. The bottle was almost empty.

Fortunately, Chloé had anticipated this state of affairs and produced another bottle from her pack.

“Chloé,” Marinette asked carefully. “Is alcohol the **only** thing you brought with you?”

“You want the truth?”

“Sure.”

“Yes. I have a bag full of alcohol and nothing else.”

“I’m cool with that,” Marinette stated. She tried to stand up and fell hard onto her butt. Luckily the log broke her fall although her butt didn’t think it was so lucky if the amount of pain radiating through her body was any indication.

“You okay, Marinette?” Chloé asked, actually looking worried.

Whether it was the alcohol or not, Marinette decided to take the question as genuine. “No,” she answered with a wince. “I just broke my ass and my worst enemy just pointed out that I’ve defined my life chasing after a boy and that same worst enemy wants to set us all on fire.”

For some reason, Chloé found that very funny. Marinette was indignant, but she couldn’t hold onto the feeling and broke out laughing too.

“Sorry,” Chloé said between gulps of air as she tried to control her laughter. “I was thinking you might get Adrien to look at that broken ass of yours and make it all better.”

“You’d like that wouldn’t you, Chloé?” Marinette giggled. “Wait, no the opposite of that. You would so not like that.”

“That is an accurate… thing… or another word,” Chloé countered. “Why is talking hard?”

“Because of that,” Marinette said pointing to the bottle. “It’s evil.”

“Eviller than me?” Chloé said, putting on a shocked face.

“You’re not really evil, Chlo-Chlo,” Marinette smiled. “You’re like a weird prickly teddy bear.”

Chloé snorted again. “Don’t ever call me that again! Or… or I’ll bite you since I’m not allowed to set anything on fire.”

“Ooh, is that a promise, Chlo-Chlo?” Marinette grinned.

“Are you hitting on me? Was Rose right all along?” Chloé asked, carefully and slowly climbing the six inches from the ground to the log required to sit on the log again. “Because calling me ‘Chlo-Chlo’ isn’t the way into my pants.”

“I am drunk enough to do that, yes,” Marinette said, gravely. “Also maybe yeah you are sorta tolerable when you’re aggravated.”

“You do have a type, don’t you, Marinette?” Chloé smirked.

“Tall, blonde, and unavailable, yes,” Marinette agreed before having a lucid moment. “Ugh what the fuck are we doing?”

“Drinking?” Chloé offered as she unscrewed the cap of the new bottle and handing it to Marinette. “Here. Your turn.”

She took the bottle and let the lucid moment fly away like a pretty butterfly. “You might be the worst person I know but god damn do you have some good ideas.” Giving the woods around them a dark glare. “This?” she said holding the bottle up. “This is an amazing idea.”

“Thank you, Marinette,” Chloé said smiling warmly. “It’s nice to be appreciated.”

The blonde followed Marinette’s gaze which was still fixed on the trees. “You really hate bugs, don’t you?”

“You have no idea how much I hate them,” Marinette whispered. “Kill them all is my motto.”

“With fire?” Chloé grinned.

“Yes, but maybe we shouldn’t be drunk when we burn the forest?” Marinette asked. For some vague reason, it seemed like a bad idea to enact Chloé’s brilliant anti-bug initiative right then. Also despite the stickiness of the tree sap, Marinette was starting to feel comfortable. “Don’t get me wrong, though! Awesome idea and I’m one billion percent onboard,” she added. It was important to give credit to one’s enemies when they said something brilliant. Or something. That was like philosophy or whatever, which wasn’t Marinette’s strongest subject.

The two of them pondered the impending Bug Apocalypse for a while longer, chatting casually and making steady progress on draining the second bottle.

Chloé grew quiet and Marinette settled for admiring the blonde’s honestly striking features highlighted by the dying campfire. 

“Marinette,” Chloé said finally. “It’s like… trees.”

The brunette blinked, realizing realizing she had missed something because Chloé had been talking for several minutes. “What’s like trees?”

Chloé turned to her, squinting. “It’s a metaphor.”

The brunette looked hard at the trees for at least a minute pondering their shadowy mysteries as she worked to fill in the point Chloé was trying to make. Maybe the trees were like the bugs? They just loomed there in the dark, eternal and hateful, waiting on the interlopers to leave and the only real way to combat them was with fire.

Marinette’s mind was well and truly blown. “Oh my god you’re so right! First the stars and then Bug Death and now metaphors.” She shifted closer to Chloé until their shoulders rested against each other’s. “You are so much deeper than I thought, and I am **so** sorry for doubting you, Chlo-Chlo.”

Chloé waved off the praise. “Pssht!” she said, sagely. “I know I’m deep. Also should I open a third bottle? We’ll finish this one soon.”

“I dunno, Chlo-Chlo. I’m feeling sort of wobbly. Watch,” she said before sitting very straight and very still. Then she began to wiggle in her seat going, “Wobble, wobble, wobble!”

The two fell over and giggled for a good minute before Marinette sat up straight saying, “Alya needs to know about how smart you are.” She turned her head back towards the tents and shouted, “Alya! Come here and learn about metaphors! Chlo-Chlo is such a great teacher!”

The blonde, who had clambered back onto the log beside her, alternated between trying to shush her and snort-laughing. Marinette felt like she should try to make Chloé do that more often because she was so damn adorable right now.

She barely noticed when Alya’s tent opened and her friend crawled out glaring at the two drunk girls.

“Alya!” Marinette exclaimed. “You are my friend!”

Nino followed Alya out of the tent and dutifully tagged along with his irate girlfriend to the fire.

“Will you keep it down, Marinette?” Alya demanded. 

Marinette nodded and then noticed that Chloé had laid her head down in her lap. Marinette started stroking Chloé’s hair but stopped because of the tree sap.

“I am sorry, Chlo-Chlo,” she said. “But you’re sticky.”

Chloé shrugged, sat up, and said, “Cheers!” before taking another drink.

“You’re right,” Nino said to Alya. “They’re drunk.”

Alya groaned and buried her face in her hands. “They’re going to wake everyone up if we don’t babysit them.”

Chloé scoffed. “We don’t need babysitters. We’re grown damn women.”

Marinette nodded before deciding that sudden head motions were not a great idea. She settled for saying, “Yeah, Alya. You listen to her because she has metaphors.”

“Thank you,” Chloé allowed graciously.

“You’re welcome, Chlo-Chlo!” Marinette beamed.

The two new additions to the impromptu drinking session stared at Marinette.

“What did you just call her?” Nino asked.

“Hey, DJ boy” Chloé answered defending Marinette. “That’s her pet name for me and I like it!”

“Yes,” Marinette said pointing at Chloé. “Mine.”

For some reason, Alya found that funny. “What have I done to deserve this?” she asked, grabbing the whiskey and sitting it outside of the two girls’ reach. “Oh god, there’s an empty bottle already. How much exactly have the two of you had to drink?”

Chloé ignored the question and pointed at Alya saying, “You are a very good friend to Marinette.” The blonde seemed to be having some sort of problem as she squinted again and kept jabbing her finger in Alya’s direction. “Stop moving,” she insisted. “I’m pointing and it’s not fair for you to keep moving.”

“Oh, Alya!” Marinette said waving her hands excitedly. “Make Chloé teach you metaphors. You’ll understand **everything** then like stars and trees and how to kill all the bugs!”

“Yes,” Chloé agreed, giving up on trying to pin down Alya with her finger. “We are going to burn all the bugs.”

“What now?” Nino asked looking concerned.

“Everything is going to burn, Nino,” Chloé insisted. “Because bugs. Marinette hates them and it’s my job now to take care of her.”

“... and your solution is to set the forest on fire?” Alya asked, wide-eyed.

Marinette snuggled into Chloé’s side. “She’s so good to me.”

“Any chance of you recording this, Alya?” Nino asked.

“Oh, I wish I but it’s probably for the best that I don’t,” Alya answered him before turning to the two cuddling girls. “The two of you were ready to kill each other a few hours ago.”

“Yes,” Marinette agreed. “But now we understand each other. I hate bugs and she hates stars.”

“Okay,” Alya said slowly, and Nino shrugged looking bewildered.

“They judge you,” Chloé explained.

“Oh my god,” Marinette shouted before Alya started waving at her to be quiet. “Oh my god,” she repeated more quietly this time. “See? She understands so much! The stars sit up there judging us while we’re being eaten by bugs.”

Chloé put a comforting arm around Marinette. “Don’t worry. I’ve got you.”

“See, Alya?” Marinette turned to her friend, wide-eyed. “So good to me even after I broke my ass.”

“Broke your what now?” Alya asked incredulous.

“Technically,” Chloé explained with great patience, impressing Marinette. “The log broke her ass.”

“True,” Marinette agreed. “I apologize, Chlo-Chlo, for not being clear.”

“It’s okay, Marinette,” Chloé stated magnanimously. “It’s a confusing night.”

“No kidding,” muttered Alya.

“But,” Chloé continued. “I’m here now and I will protect you from the awful bugs and your broken ass.”

“See?” Marinette said, kissing Chloé’s cheek. “She’s awesome. Screw the stars for judging you, Chlo-Chlo.”

Chloé’s hand that was wrapped around Marinette’s shoulder tightened, and she brought her free hand to the cheek that Marinette had just kissed. She looked at the brunette owlishly.

“Marinette,” Chloé said softly. “I’m going to make you into a bendy pretzel until your ass is fixed.”

Marinette made a purring noise that would have put Chat Noir to shame, and Alya made a strangled sound while Nino laughed and shook his head.

Marinette thought this was a very kind offer from Chloé and let her know by kissing her full on the mouth. It was way nicer than she had ever thought it could be because Chloé’s lips were soft like clouds and the blonde’s tongue tickled against her own tongue.

Seeing his girlfriend was still speechless, Nino interjected. “Maybe we should let you guys sober up before any ‘pretzel stuff’ happens?”

“No,” Marinette, broke away from kissing Chloé to state flatly. “I’m her bendy pretzel now and we’re going to make out a lot thank you very much.”

And while Nino and Alya dutifully kept watch on the fire just in case Chloé decided to make good on her arsonous threats, they did just that.

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah. So this happened. I'm rather under the weather and on sinus medication. Generally that means I have weird ideas and even weirder execution. 
> 
> I hope it's an enjoyable read!
> 
> p.s.
> 
> Also this is more or less a prequel to Part 4 of this series. At least it is in my head. This is how their relationship begins and Part 4 is the wedding day.


End file.
